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The Mansion
Outside, the mansion isn't much to look at-- assuming you can focus on it at all. Like a heat-haze on a summer day, it never seems to appear quite the same to different people. Some might swear it's white and cream, an airy confection of a country villa. Others might say it's red brick and stained glass, as sturdy and practical as a schoolhouse. Either way, it's large, but not imposing: five floors at most, one would say, and windows with modestly drawn curtains. At night, it lights up like a dollhouse, the only sign of life for miles around. It looks like it might be a nice enough place to stay. Once you step inside, however, you realize that there's more to this place than it seems. The foyer Due to recent events, the mansion's foyer now boasts a high domed ceiling with a skylight that always show blue skies, despite the fact that there are floors and rooms above it. A Japanese zen garden lies underneath, sunk into the floor. Candles stand all along the white marble walls, interspersed with solid marble pillars. They light up at night and never burn down, but don't try to touch the flames because they do burn. All through the foyer is the scent of dark, temple incense. The library Step inside, and the smell of old paper-- of hundreds of years of accumulated knowledge-- curls around you like the musk of a long-lost lover. But the books in this place don't just cover the history of one world: in its shelves lie books on every subject imaginable, from every world you could conceive. If it's been written, it's probably here. Books aren't all there is to the place, though: in its many floors (sometimes two, sometimes three, it depends on who's looking and what you need), you'll find everything from microfilm readers to eight-tracks to any other recording device ever invented. So go on. Pick a book, any book. Find a nice chair to spend the afternoon in and read to your heart's contents. But don't expect to find anything on the Mansion itself-- or anything that can get you out. The library is three floors, and it contains every book from every world. So of course, characters from manga series or books series probably have their source material lurking in there somewhere. However, if a character goes into the library intentionally looking for it, they will not find it. The library will move the book around and refuse to let you near it. It is possible to stumble on them without meaning to though, but we ask that you get permission from your castmates and also from the moderators for this. The dining room Meals are never a problem in the mansion, not when you can just sit down at a table and watch it fill itself. The best part is that they clean themselves up when you're done. Invisible servants? Magic? Tiny nanomachines too small for the naked eye to see? Whatever's serving you is efficient-- all you need to do is tell it what you want. The room is really more accurately called a hall-- the ceiling arches an impossible distance overhead, studded with glittering chandeliers, and there are enough tables to fit a sizable number of people. Whether you want a table for yourself or to mingle with the crowd, there's plenty of places to choose from. So take a seat. Dinner is served. The kitchen Don't trust what the Mansion offers you? Then step down to the kitchen. Cozy and warm, the place could almost remind you of home, if it didn't keep changing size every time you visit. Besides the main cooking areas, there's an ample amount of places to sit at, as well as counters to... serve whatever purposes you have in mind. You'll find everything you need in the freezers and in the cupboards, even things you've never seen in your life. All the garbage chutes in the Mansion empty out behind the kitchen (the improbability of the physics involved aside), and whatever's collected disappears by the end of the day. Mysterious, isn't it? Don't worry about the details. The kitchen isn't fireproof, though there are extinguishers in strategic places around the area. Try not to burn the Mansion down, won't you? ♥ The grounds In front of the Mansion is a large pond, populated by water lilies and goldfishes in the summer and spring, frozen over to serve as an ice-skating rink in the winter. There's an enormous fountain, but you're better off saving your money than making wishes. Neatly-trimmed hedges line paths and lawns that wind around the mansion, formal and stately. There might even be a hedge maze. Generally, the weather outside the Mansion stays pleasant, shifting with the seasons. (Exceptions happen.) There are a few garden plots here and there, their modest produce is tended and harvested by unseen hands. An orchard yields fruit appropriate to the season, though it's worth wondering if any of it reaches your plate. The only fences on the mansion's ground are ornamental, but it's hardly as free or open as it pretends to be.... The vendors Off to the side, behind the mansion, are vendor's stalls of varying shapes and sizes, selling everything you could possibly imagine: from your world, and from beyond it. You come here if you want something the mansion can't give you. Souvenirs. Bric a brac. Something a little exotic. Something that reminds you that the world you came from doesn't just exist in your head. The vendors are a strange lot-- dressed like fools in motley, shapeless masks are just another strange accessory to go with the rest. But if you catch one without them, you might just be grateful for those that keep their heads covered: their faces are completely smooth, as featureless as a blank wall. Don't have any cash in your pocket? Not to worry. They'll gladly barter if you find yourself a little short of spending money.... The forest The woods are dark and deep, and not altogether unlovely. Of course, those who've gotten lost in its depths might disagree. The forest is lush, verdant and... absolutely impossible to get through to the other side. If there is another side. Those who try eventually collapse from dehydration, unable to find their way out, and they wake up in their room as if they'd never left. So long as you aren't trying to map the place, and keep to the areas where the branches overhead still let the light touch the ground, you won't get lost. It's kind of nice, actually. Peaceful. It might take you a while to realize that that's only because there isn't a single living creature in these woods. Just on the fringes of the wood, farther from the mansion, is the remains of what might have once been a lush, well-kept garden, though it's owner is long gone. Be careful of the plants-- some of them eat flesh, and they haven't been fed in quite some time. of December, the woods are now home to a small population of reindeer and wolves. They're shy animals, though, and will tend to avoid company. The beach Sit down and relax. The beach is a broad, empty stretch of sand looking out onto clear blue waters nearly impossible to distinguish from the sky. There are never any storms to spoil a holiday vacation, here... well, unless the people running the place decide otherwise. Palm trees dot the edge of the sand, with recliners waiting to be occupied sitting comfortably under the shade they provide. But you'll have to bring your own towels. The ocean seems to stretch into forever-- swim out too far, and you'll be dragged under and wake up in your own room, no matter how good a swimmer you are. Out of place, just before the horizon, lies an island that doesn't belong to this world. Destiny Islands, with the palm trees and coconuts, and a cave with a door that never opens, sits there, invitingly. The water around it is completely empty of any hint of life, though at least the sound of the waves breaks the monotony. Listen. Can you hear the ocean calling your name? It's the voices of those you left behind. Category:Plot